Dear Digital X-Ray Insider,
While clinicians in the U.S. continue to debate the efficacy of CT lung screening, physicians in other countries are moving ahead with programs to perform screening with digital x-ray, a far cheaper and lower-dose modality.
In this edition's Insider, we bring you a report on radiologists in China who are using computer-aided detection (CAD) software to improve their large-scale lung cancer screening program. They found that a commercially available CAD application produced a statistically significant increase in radiologist sensitivity -- even though the study used an older version of the software. Learn more by clicking here.
In other news, a new study issued this week in the U.K. chronicles the population's exposure to medical radiation. The bad news: Total medical radiation dose exposure in the U.K. has been rising. The good news: Dose exposure in the U.K. is still low compared to other countries (and most dose is being generated by CT). Get the rest of the story by clicking here.
Other recent news in the Digital X-Ray Community:
- Learn how Dutch researchers developed their own CAD algorithm for DR screening of tuberculosis (TB).
- A study out of Africa indicates that a chest x-ray may not be necessary to rule out TB before therapy can begin in HIV patients.
- Italian researchers found that using DR tomosynthesis can help eliminate the need for CT scans to confirm lung lesions found initially on conventional radiography.
- Skeletal surveys are still useful tools in detecting signs of physical child abuse.
We hope you had a restful holiday season, and we look forward to bringing you more coverage of digital x-ray technologies in 2011!
